The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1887-02-22

the case heretofore? 1t i:
:, the increasing number of thun
MS as their greater force which p.o
- increased danger.
main cause we now point out the
increase, during the last fifty
yea ctories, railroads, steamboats,
in s. all constructions filling the at
mosp with smoke vapors and particles
Of dusU of every description. When we con
slider that every day thousands or locomo-
tives, thousands of steamers go around the
earth, that thousands of factories of all
kinds daily emit enormous quantities of
smoke vapOr aud dust into the air, that, es-
pecially III cities, tie large number of
houses produce immense quantities o. smoke
and dust, the assertion will not seem in red
ibe that there is certainly 100 times the
smoke, dust, and gasses absorbed in the at
mOsphere than was fifty years ago AL
ready with the naked eye the impure state
OF tbe atmosphere may lie noticed Go
through the coal districts of Manchester,
England. through those of Pennsy Ivania
rough the cities OF Essen and fittst urg
YOU vii notice a layer of vapor CON
y lowering over them; the air is filed
)ul gassas, and eve.y object is more
covered with the settling PARTICLES of
HE THEORY OF a THUNDERSTORM.
Sc conditions being established, we
30, tunde4 storms. To give the reader
-. e lception of this relation we will
.Iscuss the theory of the thunder
and the origin of electricity thereby
Hoped. Friction Is now generally &C
ted to be the cause of the electricity in a
~ rstorm Friction between air and
IS of ice according to Luvinet,s or be-
air and molecules of water according
lries), is the main cause of that cleo,
When besides these factors Dalti
~ dust are filling the atmosphere the
elor ment of electricity is highly IN
,ased lt is the election of steam and
shes con slInon to the phenomenon which
causes tina thunder. storms attending it to
assume a q exceedingly violent character z
That the pyramid of CheOps is rendered.
slectrical by the whirling dust of the desert
may he Re also be mentioned. 1t is nothing
but the friction of the grains of sand on the
surface Of the pyramid that causes otric-
ity to originate.
The aathor of this essay claims that the
rapid, enormous, and lasting development
of electricity during thunderstorms can not
be otherwise explained than by a purely
mechal, iccl cause, analogous to the mechan-
ical force of the hydTo-electrical machine
Now, as our atmosphere contains so much
more dust than in former years. the fact
TDUst be of great influence regarding the in
tensjty of electrical phenomena during thun-
derSJorms; from the same reasoning are e1-
planned volcanic eruptions That this in
creased force of thunderstorms must mani
fest itself in the greater violence and more
dangerous character of lightning strokes, will
be evident to the reader. But there is another
cause to be mentioned. 1t is an tablished
fact that air containing solid particles has
conducting power i'll regard to electric cur
rents far superior to that of pure air. In
our day, therefore, where these molecules of
dust and solid particles fill the atmosphere
TO greater extent the latter has become a
let or conductor, and favors direction of
the lightning strokes toward the more inn
pure layers in the vicinity of the earth, and,
therefore, the earth itself.-Chicago Times. !